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There was holy war in the Day Centre. The London Borough I worked in had decided to survey every Centre to discover the ethnic origin of those in receipt of services. The social workers were charged with helping our elderly clients to fill out a lengthy form. One of the questions read "How do you identify yourself? Irish, Second Generation Irish, Third Generation Irish, Afro-Carribean, (that's what it said!) White, Black, English, Other." The Borough was concerned that people might mis-identify themselves. They were right. We had Irish born people identifying themselves as English, Black people identifying them selves as White and vice versa. What people didn't know was that we, the social workers, were supposed to fill out a separate form and 'correct' any inaccuracies we found. We were a Union House so the Union got involved on the civil liberties issue and the terms of our employment which did not include becoming census enumerators.
The form caused untold distress to our clients. Two thirds of them were Irish born but had lived in London all their adult lives. They were regarded and treated as Irish throughout their working lives in London. But when they went home to Ireland they were regarded and treated as English. Many of their children were embarrassed about having Irish parents. Most of their children identified themselves as English and had assimilated completely. As one older lady said to me with great sadness 'All of us here fall between two stools, pet, we are neither Irish nor English now. Nobody wants us.' This blog was inspired by Mairead Geary , The Irish American Mom. Read more Tales of the Diaspora
6 Comments
Martine - I can hear the elderly Irish woman saying the words "All of us here fall between two stools, pet." I had a knot in my throat at the words "Nobody wants us." This really highlighted the differences between Irish immigrants' experience in England and America. On this side of the Atlantic, we are welcomed with open arms and made feel at home. The big question for all of us is accepting that invitation to become American without feeling overcome by guilt, thinking we are abandoning our homeland. 10/26/2012 05:22:12 am
I am glad to have this opportunity to honour her experience Mairead. What made me even more sad as I listened to her was that she, and most of the others in the Centre had sent money home for years and years. They helped to put slate roofs on houses, put siblings through school and provided for aging parents. They often sent money home and were then unable to go home. I am sure this is true in America also. I know that their world was very different from ours. I really respect the sacrifices they made. 11/9/2012 06:38:38 am
As I was reading about the lengthy forms the residents had to fill in pertaining to their ethnicity, I was reminded of an American house evaluation site I was browsing through recently. It stated, not only the value of the houses, and the grounds, but also laid out the ethnicity percentage of the residents in the area. I was gobsmacked. One would never see that kind of thing in Ireland. Understandably, we are a very small country. Dil from Newstalk says there are over 190 languages spoken in Ireland today. https://twitter.com/DilW 11/9/2012 06:21:24 pm
I think it is so important to acknowledge the reality of their/our experience Marie-Therese. Pain truly acknowledged heals. And the thing that I find only miraculous is that sometimes it only takes ONE person. Acknowledging pain is NOT the same as wallowing in the past. I think sometimes people get confused between the two. But that's another blog! 11/15/2012 05:37:11 am
'It is so important to acknowledge them all, those who felt they were abandoned and those who feared abandoning their own.' I think what you say is true and important. And I'm grateful that my own experience as a member of the diaspora has been different. 11/19/2012 12:12:02 am
I too feel enriched by my time in London Felicity, although it wasn't always easy. I wonder has anyone done any studies on the effect of education on integration? That would be very interesting. Martine Leave a Reply. |
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